Shakespeare was educated at the free grammar school at Stratford. He went to London some time around 1585 and spent some time as an actor for the Lord Chamberlain's Company. By 1592 Shakespeare was both an actor and a playwright. His earliest known work is that of the three parts of Henry VI dating from 1590-91. The actual order and dates of his plays are open to conjecture, however, it is thought that he followed the first plays with Richard III, The Comedy of Errors (1592-93), Titus Andronicus and The Taming of the Shrew (1593-94). He published his poems Venus and Adonis and Lucrece in 1593 and 1594, respectively. The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labour Lost and Romeo and Juliet are thought to be from 1594-95 and Richard II and A Midsummer Night's Dream from the following year. He purchased a large house in Stratford in 1597, but did not live there permanently until 1611. His Sonnets were published in 1609, but are thought to have been writen earlier, perhaps between 1593 and 1596. His other major works, and their probable datings are: King John (1596), The Merchant of Venice (1597), Henry IV (1598), Much Ado About Nothing (1598), As You Like It (1599), Twelfth Night (1599), Henry V (1599), Julius Caesar (1600), Hamlet (1600), The Merry Wives of Windsor (1601), Troilus and Cressida (1601), All's Well That Ends Well (1602), Measure for Measure (1604), Othello (1605), King Lear (1605), Macbeth (1606), Antony and Cleopatra (1606), Coriolanus (1607), Timon of Athens (1608), Pericles (1609), Cymbeline (1610), The Winter's Tale (1610) and The Tempest (1612). His last published work is thought to be Henry VIII in 1612-13 on which, it is said, Fletcher collaborated. He spent his final years in Stratford where he died in 1616. |
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